For indoor rooms intended primarily for listening to music, whether residential rooms used for watching television or listening to recorded music, or public auditoriums or enclosures employed for listening to live music, it is desired that the quality of the heard sound be as accurate as the produced sound.
It is well known that rooms can produce distortional acoustic effects such as echoes, reverberations, amplified bass tones, and uneven volume distribution throughout the room. Systems for improving the sound quality of indoor rooms have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,049,190; 3,411,605; 3,590,354; 4,226,299; 4,605,088; 4,682,670; 5,035,298; 5,896,710; 6,530,451; 6,782,971, all being incorporated herein by reference. Such prior systems generally employ large volume panels that attach to the walls or employ floor-standing structures, some of which are movable or adjustable nature. Such panels and related structures are usually of bulky, heavy and expensive construction, or difficult to install, or detract from the aesthetic appearance or floor space of the room. The prior art systems did not address the needs for performance areas such as college recital halls or school cafetoriums areas where variable acoustics are often required. Moreover, past systems have not adequately addressed the problem that the same room or performance space is often used for different purposes that present different acoustic challenges.
Present day music rooms are usually shared between different type of bands (jazz and concert), orchestras (wind ensembles and string ensembles), and choirs (vocal and jazz) with the acoustics being a compromise between these various uses. A homemade solution to this problem is an acoustic panel that folds out for absorption and folds in for diffusion. Retractable curtains are also commonly used, but very seldom work effectively. For the performing arts market, motorized banners are used to vary acoustics. One limitation of the prior art devices is that modifying the acoustic character of a room requires considerable time and manpower or are complex to operate.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a device that has a quick and simple modification of its acoustic diffusion and absorption properties. It is a further object of this invention to provide a method modifying of a room's acoustic character by using a tunable acoustic panel. It is also an object of this invention to provide a method of making a tunable acoustic device that can be tuned with a single mechanical movement. It is yet another object of this invention to provide a kit and instructions that optimizes the shipping of a tunable acoustic panel yet allows for simple assembly of its component parts.